The CAP website, in the past, showed Rocha playing in a CAM position

curious, but is there a way that Alvarez would be in for Wags on the left? i know he played a higher position last year, but he also excels running at people with space to move around. I know the wing in the 3-5-2 plays further back cuz of its defensive duties, but there’s no reason that Dax and Artie couldnt switch every now and then like they did with the high wings last season. Plus, now there are 2 d-mids to cover for him when he goes forward (instead of Gbad Gbandi).

just curious.

no matter if it’s the B team, it is still a good win. i’m sure the CAP team is very competitive and still talented. from reading the pbp report, i liked how we kept possession and moved the ball. now, all we need is that consistency.

I agree, good game and a good sign of progress. CAP is a very deep team.

btw, any news on that CAP trialist we were to look into?

TT, it’s not very likely you will see Alvarez in the wingback spot Wags started in this game. Mainly cause he doesn’t play enough defense and you want Arturo closer to goal anyway.

3nOut, no news on which CAP player Morrow was talking about.

A question (or two). . .

I’m trying to figure out the Brazilian Leagues . . . in which league does CAP play? The ESPNSoccer.net website is not helpful . . . I can’t even find CAP on any of the current 2008 listings.

How does CAP compare to other teams, such as Sao Paola and Palmieras?

Thanks!

hutchtx, I googled around and found that Paranaense finished in the middle of the pack of the top division, the Brasileiro [sp]. The champs by far were Sao Paulo. Paranaense beat Sao Paulo 2 – 1 in a league match in early December in Curitiba.

Any thoughts on how Cooper played specifically. Beast like? Stll finding a rhthm?

MLS Cup Here we come!

hutchtx, CAP plays in Brasileiro Serie A, the highest level of competition. Their season runs from may to Dec. for the reg. season and you can see the 07 results here:

http://soccernet.espn.go.com/t...ne&order=false&cc=5901

I can’t make sense of all the various tournaments, cups, state championships, etc. they have in Brazil (see links at the top of the standings link), but suffice it to say CAP plays in the highest division/league in Brazil and is a good club.

Is CAP a good team was the question and the answer is yes by the standard of the domestic Brazilian league. BUT the best of the country’s players leave and make far more money in Europe. What’s left is what we would call in the USA jounyman players and those too young to have been discovered just yet.
This league is not like Mexico where above average players are over paid to keep them at home.

FCD has picked up two players that were seen as expendible by CAP so you can see the level that we are getting when compared to what that great soccer country produces.

Thanks for the info, guys!

I could see that CAP finished middle of the table last season, but . . . when does the 2008 season start? From reading the CAP website, I noticed that the A team lost to (I forget who) in PK’s in the Copa do Brasil (and are thus out).

I realize that the top Brazilians do leave for Europe. However, I think for FCD to defeat even the CAP “B” team — and for the “expendible” players to have an impact in that win — is significant for FC Dallas (and for Ricardniho and Rocha).

Great job, FCD!

P.S. len . . . are you EVER happy about anything FCD does? Just curious, because all of your posts always seem to have a negative slant.

I’ll answer for len…NO!

BTW: this is a good win for FCD. We were really dominated by them last year. And I do recall Rocha eating up Pablo and Toja in the middle of the field. This guy could prove to be SM’s biggest pickup to date. Games against the LA Becks and a rematch with CAP should tell.

Len is being a tad bit harsh. For all that he says about the Brazilian League, and much of it is somewhat true, the Brazilian clubs have beaten the Mexican Clubs fairly regularly in Copa Lib and Copa Sud matches for years. I’d say the Mexican clubs that do participate in those tournaments are, on average, more successful than the Brazilians….but it’s not by much. I believe that Brazilian clubs have won the South American championship 3 out of the last 5 years.

Very concerned to see Wagenfuhr starting with all the talent we have here. I know he works his @ss off in training but that effort, on a good day, should be rewarded by finding one of the few remaining spots on the bench, never in the lineup. IMHO that is

Wags has actually played pretty well so far this year in a wingback role. IMO: both Wags and Rhine are both suited as wingbacks better than outside backs in a 4 back formation.

Plus we didn’t have AA or Dax available.

[...] by that I mean, some results impress me – for example, it’s not so much that FC Dallas beat Atletico Paranaense’s B-team, as my impression that they did it well – while I’m not sure what to make of others. But [...]

i agree w/ c-rich. it’s nothing against wags, but we do have some talent at MF. when you say depth, wags isn’t the 1st person i think about at MF. i’m big on wally…even brek at LWB. IMO, somebody’s else would be there by mid-season.

Possibly to shed some light on the Brazilian futebol scene, and possibly to just confuse everybody more…

There are approximately as many Brazilian soccer teams as there are stars in the sky. The population of the country is HUGE, and dang near every single one of them plays the game. So, it’s quite impossible to have a standard Euro-style promotion/relegation format. Instead, they have a bunch of local tournaments which pyramid up into each other… sorta. Each state holds a major tournament (though for lesser teams, there are also lesser and more localized tournaments). The state tournaments basically comprise the first half of the season. The teams that do well in the state tournaments play in the national tournament (what we would consider the “regular season”) at whatever level they achieve (A being the top, C being the bottom). There is also a Brazilian version of the FA Cup/USOC, called the Brazil Cup or Copa do Brasil. Each state tournament is different, and promotion/relegation is handled differently for each tournament. It’s a very complex system, but it works very well. It’s especially good at promoting rivalries from the derby level all the way up to the national level.

I have two Brazilians on the high school team I coach, so I’ve had to learn the system to effectively shoot the breeze. One is a Cruzeiros ultra and the other is a Corinthians fan, so I’m forced to keep up with two separate tournaments (not to mention the Copa Lib for Cruzeiros), and thus I’ve also learned a lot of Portuguese.

Cool! Thanks for the info . . . after looking at ESPNSoccetnet, it does make sense, now. As much as it can. And after looking up CAP on Wikipedia, while they finished something like 12th in the “Serie A” in December, they did win it back in 2001 (I think). Don’t know what it means now that they are out of the Copa do Brasil, now.

At any rate, I think it’s an excellent partnership for FCD. Plus, it gives the fans a glimpse into the Brazilian football world, too.

Cool!

[...] and Davino are out, but Toja is back.  I’m gonna stick with the 3-5-2 as it was used against CAP last time and I think it’s the preferred formation with Toja as the [...]